Asian trip offers Rockets opportunity to bond

Share this:

When the Rockets left for the Philippines after their preseason opener against New Orleans on Saturday night, they were in for hours of travel and a whirlwind schedule.

Despite that, the players were looking forward to their journey to play two games against the Indiana Pacers, first in Manila and then in Taipei, Taiwan. They are anticipating memorable cultural experiences and a lot of team building.

“It is a really long and tiring trip to get there,” Dwight Howard said. “But I think it is going to be great for this team. That time together, getting to know each other, being in another country — it will be good for us.”

James Harden spent time in Manila over the summer when he went for NBA 3X, a 3-on-3 tournament. He immediately grew to love the city and the people.

“They are great, and they really, really love basketball over there,” Harden said. “It was a great experience.”

When the Rockets and Pacers take the floor on Thursday at the Mall of Asia Arena, it will be the first NBA preseason game in Manila.

“I am excited to go there, give them their first-ever glimpse of the NBA close up,” Harden said. “They are so pumped about us coming. It’s great to be able to do this for them.”

Aaron Brooks was with the Rockets the last time they made a trip like this. In 2010, they played the New Jersey Nets in Beijing and Guangzhou, China, and Brooks said he got a lot out of it.

“I got to see Yao (Ming) play there, which was a great experience,” he said. “And you just really got to bond with your teammates. I took a trip in college (Oregon) to the Bahamas with my team. It was like that then, too. These trips really can bring a team together.”

Brooks said the building of chemistry will go beyond the players.

“Guys will bring their wives and families, and they get to know each other,” he said. “It will be good for this whole team to get connected.”

Besides playing in a new environment, the Rockets will get to face some strong competition. The Pacers went to the Eastern Conference finals last year, bowing to the Miami Heat in seven games, and playoff leaders Paul George, Roy Hibbert and David West are all back this season.

“We get to play a team that made a really nice run last season, has their best guys back,” Harden said. “We are building chemistry and have a new team, so that’s a great situation for us.”

The Rockets have nine new players but also important returnees in Harden, Chandler Parsons and Jeremy Lin.

Lin and Parsons coached at a camp in Taipei over the summer, and Parsons is looking forward to going back.

“They love basketball, so it is going to be cool going out there as a team, bonding, seeing a different culture and getting better and playing a good team in the Pacers,” Parsons said. “That will be fun to see how we match up early on and see what improvements we have to make.”